TMI, for “too much information,” might be the defining acronym of the 21st century. Often it’s texted or spoken as a half-joking warning that lines of privacy, good taste and respectability are being crossed.

Which brings us to Facebook, the social networking colossus with a business model that fundamentally believes that TMI is terrific. (So does Google, but that’s another story.) The more information Facebook can elicit about you, your friends and your friends’ friends, the better it can deliver targeted ads and provide other useful information to its business partners and clients.

Now, I’m not suggesting that Mark Zuckerberg wants to be the Big Brother of commerce. But when Facebook recently rolled out strategic format changes, such as “instant personalization,” it didn’t take long for policy watchdogs, prominent tech bloggers and a petition on MoveOn.org to essentially accuse his Palo Alto startup of an insidious anti-privacy campaign behind the friendly interface.

When my colleague Troy Wolverton weighed in May 3 with a column headlined “Facebook changes threaten privacy,” he got a snippy e-mail from a company spokesman. Two weeks later, amid a crescendo of complaints, my colleague Chris O’Brien circled back on the topic. This time a Facebook executive assured him the company is listening and learning. A simpler approach to privacy settings is said to be in the works.

The tension between users’ privacy expectations and Facebook’s quest for information will always be a balancing act. It’s been said that Facebook’s standard approach is to take action and seek forgiveness later.

“Facebook doesn’t apologize, but instead reverts features and will tone them down,” said Jeremiah Owyang, a Web strategist with the Altimeter Group. “Typically, they make changes, see how the community reacts, then may retract portions of it. They’ll typically claim perpetual beta or innovation as a way to backstep.”

He added: “This works for Facebook.”

And how. Facebook, now approaching 500 million users worldwide, is wildly popular because it is free, engaging, entertaining and useful — a way to connect with friends, share photos and play games. A few of my friends, I fear, may qualify as Facebook addicts. While thousands of users threaten to quit Facebook, its users continue to grow by the millions.

All considered, the latest Facebook controversy seems like a bump in the road. Inevitably, Facebook’s growth will slow and plateau. But even then Facebook will constantly feast in the age of TMI, collecting data every millisecond as users connect with friends, causes, games, whatever.

And remember: The Zuckerberg generation, growing up with the Internet, see their parents’ notions of privacy as old-fashioned. Like the Internet itself, Facebook is altering social mores regarding privacy.

What is said on Facebook can have unintended consequences. The other day, a female friend of mine was taken aback when she took a look at photos that included a male friend. The comments that followed, she told me, “inadvertently outed him as a scandalous womanizer.”

Lookout lands more funding: The smartphone security startup Lookout this week announced $11 million in second-round funding led by Accel Partners, with Khosla Ventures and Trilogy Partnership also participating. The San Francisco company also announced that Joseph Ansanelli, former CEO of Vontu and executive at Symantec, was named chairman of the board.

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